Recent developments in patient identification bands, crowd control bands, and analogous products have resulted in the development of various types of security fasteners intended to prevent the removal of the bands without either the destruction of the bands or the destruction of the fasteners.
Typical security fasteners have included various types of metallic fasteners and metallic and plastic snap fasteners in which a male stud is inserted into a female receptor.
Unfortunately, most of the prior art security fasteners have been subject to tampering because the components of the fasteners are exposed and the ever-ingenious individuals upon whom such fasteners are utilized will, inevitably, determine a mode of separating the components of the fasteners to release the bands or other articles secured by said fasteners.
One of the most successful approaches to the solution of these problems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,063 wherein a security band intended for use in prisons, mental institutions, and the like is disclosed. Various types of metallic fasteners are provided which include metallic studs adapted to be deformed into underlying relationship with the opposite extremities of the band or other identification means.
Therefore, secure affixation of the security band to a prisoner or patient is achieved. However, the components of the security fastener affixing the band to the individual are visible and the inevitable tampering with the security fastener occurs, sometimes resulting in the successful removal of the security fastener from operative relationship with the band. In some instances, such tampering is not perceptible and prisoners and patients frequently trade bands for various purposes, such as deceiving the guards in prisons as to the status of a prisoner or to permit a mental patient to access portions of an institution which he is not permitted to access.
Another type of security fastener is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,963, wherein a snap fastener incorporates detent means for maintaining the snap fastener in locking relationship with a hospital identification band or the like. Once again, tampering with the fasteners occurs because the juncture between the male and female components of the fastener is visually perceptible by an individual upon whom a hospital identification or crowd control band has been placed.